by Valerie Joy King • My husband Jonathan and I were getting ready to leave Flagstaff for the ten hour drive home. We had been visiting for a week, helping to get our natural foods store on track after its move to a new, larger location. I had really enjoyed our stay. I have always loved Flagstaff!
It is nestled against the foot of the San Francisco peaks, Arizona’s tallest mountains. The whole town is covered with ponderosa pine forests. The sky is crystal clear blue because of the high elevation. The Hopi people state that the Kachinas, guardian spirits and teachers of humankind, make their home in the sacred San Francisco mountains.
While we visited, every day would start out sunny and clear, then storm clouds would roll in amidst thunder and lightning, pour down buckets of rain, and then the sun would return again. I loved the exciting weather!
This particular morning I was sad to be leaving because during our visit I had been working at our store every day, and hadn’t a chance to walk in the pine forests and greet my friends, the trees and rocks, and wild animals. This is one of my favorite things to do.
I sat down on a curb beside our car and looked out across the valley to a rolling foothill adorned with pines. Suddenly I felt the soft yet powerful embrace of Divine Spirit spinning all around me, expanding outward, stretching to encompass my gaze. The hill now also became embraced by the spinning cocoon. I could feel all the trees, the rich, red earth, and the lichen-covered boulders, all living within me. How joyous was our communion! “Hello, dear trees,” I whispered. “Thank you for your life in I Am That I Am.”
I noticed that everything I looked at seemed to be composed of tiny, shimmering orbs of divine life and consciousness. Even things I ordinarily consider ugly, like exhaust from a tractor, now was filled with the secret Presence.
As I breathed in and out, I felt the dancing, shimmering lights enter in and out of my body. I felt completely clean and renewed, as a favorite poem rang through my consciousness: In Joy I live. In Joy I breathe. In sacred Joy I melt. Thank you, Creator Spirit, I Am That I Am.
by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder • God never told me anything about religions. God never said to me that there are Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, or Hindus. God never uttered a word to me regarding mankind’s religions, and I can understand why.
Religion is what man has produced, and the Light that all religions seek is what God has produced. Ultimately all religions, all spiritual practices, have but one goal: to meet this living Light, our Divine Mother and Father, face to face.
How can any one of us be satisfied without knowing God? I couldn’t. As a young man, I cried and prayed and worked in every way I could, that God might look upon me and let me know he was there and that he loved me. There isn’t any one of us that can accept anything short of personal realization in every fiber of our being, knowing that God is alive and is the creator of our bodies, minds and spirits. The truth behind all great religions is knowledge of the Divine Creator of all.
In all the religions I have studied, I found that those brothers and sisters who have experienced God described an ineffable, infinitely loving Light. They were engulfed in the brilliance of a divine inner Sun. They knew in a matter of seconds more than they had gathered in all the years of their lives—in one effulgence. They have been persecuted, nailed to the cross, condemned and done away with by the ignorant and those who do not understand.
Let us pray for the protection of those brothers and sisters, wherever they are, who have had the good fortune to meet God face to face within themselves and who try to describe that Being in their different ways. I pray that they be given protection for their uniqueness, that they might be able to bring through to their brothers and sisters what they have seen, known and felt.
Let us not condemn each other. Let us encourage each other towards God’s inner Sun. Let us pray that God blesses us all, each and every one. No matter who you are, what you have done or where you come from, each and every one can experience full divine illumination. If that vision of Light calls, may you find your way. In the end, there is no doctrine, no belief other than this Light of God. This has been my only desire: to bear witness that God is alive and can be seen, can be known right within you.
Think upon your freedom in God’s Light. Like the wind in the trees,
Like the light from the sun,
Can you catch it? Can you hold it?
God is life, sweet love within each and every one, throbbing in our hearts.
photo and text by Dawn King • A recent note from my friend Dori asked: “Do you know about the Wesak? It is on May 26 this year… a major celebration of the Buddha’s birthday and occurs on the May full Moon. It is believed that the Buddha energy and Christ energy converge during the full Moon. One ritual is to put out water in a crystal container to capture this energy. Then sip on it throughout the year.”
Thank you, Dori! 2021’s Wesak full Moon is especially powerful because it’s particularly close to the Earth (a Super Moon). Earth’s shadow will cause a total eclipse of the full Moon. The Moon will appear red in color for about 14 minutes. It can be viewed in the western US, western South America and in South-East Asia. The maximum eclipse will be visible at 4:18 on the west coast of the U.S.
Physically, for planet Earth it may be the trigger for a near-future seismic event, and/or flooding, maybe a tsunami. Since a full view of the eclipse is centered over the Pacific Ocean, that is where such events may occur.
Physically, for our bodies we may experience surges of energy, which could cause us to feel anxious. Pay attention to the body’s needs in regard to diet, exercise, rest, and meditation. Walking a labyrinth (like that at Sunburst) can help bring us into harmony with the Universe.
Mentally, we need to be alert today, as always, for whatever message the Universe is conveying to us. Here’s an example of how the Universe gave me a helpful message:
For weeks I’d been trying to complete the online application for a renewal of my driver’s license, and finally, simply to get an appointment and take the required written test. After filling out all the forms numerous times on my computer, but never getting the needed confirmation of completion, I prayed about it one night before going to sleep. Prompted by a dream just before waking in the morning, I decided to simply “Show up!”…that morning, as instructed in the dream.
I joined the beginning of the day’s long line at my local DMV office. After a couple of minutes, I noticed the person ahead of me had on a sweatshirt with “Victory” printed on the back of it—a good sign! When I was finally admitted, the clerk asked, “Did you study the handbook?”
“Yes,” I answered honestly.
“We’re waiving written tests today,” she smiled. Finally, I was out the door; this ordeal was over, thanks to following the Universe’s promptings.
Emotionally, the full Moon is associated with amplified emotions. However, being the Wesak full Moon it could trigger emotions of a more spiritual nature. We all long for wholeness, or feeling complete. This may be experienced as loneliness. Only a connection with our true nature, a soul connection, will satisfy this longing. Getting in touch with one’s pure Self, one’s inmost heart, can make a world of difference. Meditation can lead us forward in this effort.
Spiritually, we can be hopeful that a real breakthrough is possible around this time. Some have likened this May 26th, 2021 to a time of “psychic reset,” like rebooting a computer. I certainly hope that’s the case. We each could use a reset in our understanding of life, in our ability to see through the eyes of Spirit…through God’s loving eyes.
“…Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in the mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror.” – Kahlil Gibran
by Greg Anderson • As children, we all had questions. We heard the term God and wondered, “Who is God?” it’s not an unknown question on this planet. It’s been asked by many. And, “Where is he?” and “How do we find God?” These are questions that have existed for centuries.
We enter the path of Self-Realization when we first decide we want to seek God. And Self-Realization is when there is a union between the creative forces of divine Father and divine Mother in our heart which changes us forever. As we work with that union and it consciously resides within us permanently, we call it Illumination.
I believe that’s what Jesus meant when he said, “I and the Father are One.” Cosmic consciousness is what Sunburst’s Founder Norman Paulsen experienced as he followed the life stream of his Divine parents to the center of all creation.
Spiritual experiences are difficult to put into words. Brother Norm said that it took him over 20 years to be able to describe his experience of Cosmic consciousness. Each of our experiences are different just as we each have a different face. No two faces are exactly identical, and the way we perceive the Divine is unique to each of us.
A few years ago when my wife and I sat in our meditation room for evening meditation, I began performing Kriya circulations, counting them as I went along. Suddenly that part of me that was aware was whisked to a different dimension. Here I saw and spoke with those beings from this planet who had reached full illumination. One of them embraced me, and I felt prolonged bliss for the first time in my life.
Suddenly I was back in my meditation room, but instead of being consciously in my body, it was as if I was an observer watching my body sitting in lotus position on my meditation pad. Divine bliss is difficult to describe. It would be like describing chocolate to somebody who’d never tasted it. The best way that I can explain it is: every atom and every electron is suddenly spinning in synchrony, and in between the spaces of the electrons is nothing but love. As I looked as though from above, I could see divine life force circulating through the energy centers of my body and the chakras of my spine.
I also saw my own inner-dimensional tunnel; it was completely flooded with light, rising like a river from beneath me to my heart chakra. I saw rivulets of energy appear and disappear all throughout my body. As I looked above my head, a white string of light connected to the crown of my head. And as it entered through the crown it was like a waterfall of white light moving slowly downward.
When that great light from below met the great white light from above, there was not an explosion. There was an expansion. It was the union of our Divine Father and our Divine Mother in my heart. And as it expanded, waves of light in the color of gold moved out from my body and in all directions three or four feet away from my physical body. I felt connected to God in a very literal way.
Then I felt a hand on my arm. I was back in my body, and Elena was saying, “Are you alright? You were crying.”
My tears were of joy. I witnessed, in my own way, the true nature of our Divine Mother and Divine Father rebirthing, or recreating a new person within my heart. This is a process, and it will continue to be a process as long as I do the things that allow me to grow: as long as I continue to meditate, to live virtuously, and to ask for God’s grace.
At this very moment, YOU are equipped atomically, molecularly, cellularly in this very body, for Cosmic consciousness, Illumination, and Self-Realization. No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, God is within.
Oh Divine Creator, Mother and Father, reveal thyself to me. Live in my heart. Dwell in my spiritual centers. Show me how to find my life stream and ride it home to you. Amen
by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder • Let us feel the fingers of God on the crowns of our heads. It is here at the prism doorway of life, God’s dual vortexes of energy and consciousness enter into us. Life is knocking at the door on the crowns of our heads. Yes, that Presence is knocking at the door that was open and throbbing with each heartbeat when we were infants. Let us open the door once again and invite I Am That I Am to descend into the upper chamber of our minds and into our hearts.
Divine Mother and Father are here now with us as much as they ever will be. We have to realize this. God’s blazing light and presence exists just above the open prism door on the crown and beats within our hearts every microsecond of time. God’s presence is always here. We can see, feel, and talk to God if we persist in our desire and in the tithing of our love, in meditation, and throughout our days.
We will experience the second birth, the birth of the Christ Child within our hearts. This is the ignition of energy God has placed deep within our souls before our beginnings in these bodies. This is our own pure Self, the image God had for each one of us in the beginning.
I remember the first time I experienced and felt my own pure Self in meditation. My head was moving backward on my shoulders to its limits. I was looking straight up into a tunnel of light filled with colors, like a rainbow. I moved in through the opening toward a Being of Light brilliant like the sun, shining at the end of the tunnel.
Suddenly I realized that I was not breathing and began to struggle, feeling that if I did not breathe, I would surely die. As I struggled, I realized that a divine presence was standing beside me to my left. That presence was the Divine Mother, the birth mother of my soul. The presence spoke, “My son, be not afraid; breathe from my mouth the breath of life.” Coming through the tunnel, I felt a cool sensation, a breeze on my face coming toward me from the Being of Light at the end of the tunnel.
I ceased struggling to breathe, relaxed, and immediately realized that I was alive in my body without the necessity of breathing. I recognized the presence of the pure Self, the real me existing deep within my soul, the part of each one of us that is immortal. It existed before we came into these bodies. We all intuitively know this truth and at some time will experience it. God wants all of us to know this immortality again, to know who we really are. We are not limited to just a few years, a few orbits around this sun on this tiny world. It is only a temporary stop, a place to move onward from, and toward perfection. Perfection is allowing God to be in control, not little egos, not the false self with all its endless desires.
God moves through the open door on the crowns of our heads, into our bodies, and fills us with this realization, this ecstasy, this love and consciousness. This is what life is all about. When we are young, we are full of desires for the images we see around us, and we spend our time in their pursuit. But if we can stop long enough to say, “Not my will but Thy will be done through me, Oh Father,” we will begin to walk, play, work and talk with God in this life on our way to perfection. God is our only real and true friend, our eternal companion.
The tool of meditation that we have been given is only a means of reaching this end: to know God, to be fully conscious of God within us, not 99 and 9/10s percent, but 100 percent of the time. This Being, this power, this love, this joy, this realization, is the expanding awareness of the great upper brain. It is called the upper chamber and it contains the throne room that exists in each one of us. This great higher brain exists like an incredible, divine computer that can hold the knowledge and drift of the whole creation. This is a gift that humanity hardly uses today.
This is the miracle of our existence in these bodies. Through meditation we can open up and receive this miracle in the upper chamber with God, at the last supper as we leave the false self behind. Acknowledge that which illumines the great upper brain that God has built within us. The energy and presence that comes down in swirling vortexes upon the crowns of our heads is the anointment. This is why we meditate. This is where we come face to face with the real purpose of life. God himself will teach us. I Am That I Am will program our great upper brain for us to use with Him/Her, Mother and Father Divine.
by Joe Belton (edits and photo by Dawn King) • As I step outside into a beautiful morning, divine Mother’s presence in the creation is so obvious. We see the reflection of divine Mother in our Mother Earth. She provides for us, takes care of us, gives us food and water for our bodies, materials for clothing and shelter. Her beautiful natural images enrich our spirits. Who has not stood spellbound by a sunrise or sunset, by a certain mountain or valley, or a majestic forest…or the awesome expanse of the ocean?
Divine Mother is also reflected in our birth mothers, who helped bring us into the world, who took care of us and nurtured us. Each one is beautiful in her own way. Each one is a daughter of Divine Spirit. Reflections of divine Mother are everywhere around us. But divine Mother is never alone; her constant companion is divine Father.
In every image that exists, throughout all of creation, divine Mother and Father dance in the midst of it, weaving light and sound, creating wonderful visible images. Above the crowns of our heads sits the brilliance of I Am That I Am, Mother and Father. Emanating from that brilliance, the sacred forces of our spiritual parents descend upon each one of us. If we sit still enough, we can feel their presence.
Divine Mother’s swirling life force spins downward around our bodies to the base chakra, then returns up the inner-dimensional tunnel of our spines toward the heart chakra.She envelops us in a cocoon of light. Through the midst of Mother’s inner-dimensional spiral the life force of divine Father spins downward meeting divine Mother in our heart chakra. Mother and Father’s vortexes combine, sustaining life, and offering Illumination, Christ consciousness.
Divine Mother’s vortex is like her mouth upon the crowns of our heads; it whispers to each one of us saying, “Breathe from my mouth the Breath of Life.” It is for each one of us to open that door on the crown of the head and invite abundant divine life force to enter in, and to illumine us.
As we inhale the physical air, we also draw the energy of divine Mother up through the base of the spine. As we exhale, we draw divine Father’s life force down through the crowns of our heads. We circulate their life force within us, and thus we breathe the Breath of Life. We become more and more aware of the presence of those sacred forces, the presence of our Mother-Father Creator, I Am That I Am.
Scientists say that at the center of every galaxy there is a massive black hole. It only appears black because its brilliance is undetectable by modern-day instruments. For each one of us there also exists a black hole, that place Sunburst’s founder Norman Paulsen calls “the smallest of all places”. As we circulate our life force and breathe the Breath of Life, we begin to penetrate the darkness within and eventually perceive the tiny light, the star that shines at the mouth of the inner-dimensional tunnel. Over time, in meditation it appears to grow into a shining sun, unveiling the brilliance of that Being we call I Am That I Am.
One day, everyone on Earth will have grown into this realization and be able to say, as Yogananda said, “In the inky darkness of my mind I could behold the Sun of Cosmic consciousness.”
